N.C. roads need reliable funding

By The Daily News

Published: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 07:27 PM.

Believe it: Gridlock in Washington can lead to gridlock right here in North Carolina. The N.C. Department of Transportation says failure of Congress to reach an agreement to keep the Federal Highway Trust Fund would delay maintenance and repaving throughout the state. Those delays also could cost hundreds to thousands of jobs at a time when our state is just coming back from the worst downturn in recent memory.

The trust fund, which is built on federal fuel tax revenues, is rapidly dwindling. Officials say it could be insolvent as early as next month. That’s a scary thought.

North Carolina faces a similar problem funding its roads. The state gas tax, which used to rise and fall along with prices, has been capped.

Add to that higher construction costs, more fuel-efficient cars on the road and reduced driving as gas prices creep up, and you have a formula that will increase the growing gap between transportation needs and available revenue.

Many potential solutions have been looked at — among them, toll roads; taxing drivers on how many miles they drive each year; public-private construction agreements; and additional fees on fuel-efficient vehicles (especially hybrids and electric cars).

All have their drawbacks, as does increasing either the state or federal gas tax.

Believe it: Gridlock in Washington can lead to gridlock right here in North Carolina. The N.C. Department of Transportation says failure of Congress to reach an agreement to keep the Federal Highway Trust Fund would delay maintenance and repaving throughout the state. Those delays also could cost hundreds to thousands of jobs at a time when our state is just coming back from the worst downturn in recent memory.

The trust fund, which is built on federal fuel tax revenues, is rapidly dwindling. Officials say it could be insolvent as early as next month. That’s a scary thought.

North Carolina faces a similar problem funding its roads. The state gas tax, which used to rise and fall along with prices, has been capped.

Add to that higher construction costs, more fuel-efficient cars on the road and reduced driving as gas prices creep up, and you have a formula that will increase the growing gap between transportation needs and available revenue.

Many potential solutions have been looked at — among them, toll roads; taxing drivers on how many miles they drive each year; public-private construction agreements; and additional fees on fuel-efficient vehicles (especially hybrids and electric cars).

All have their drawbacks, as does increasing either the state or federal gas tax.

The White House issued a recent report outlining the sorry state of America’s roads. North Carolina fares better than most, but 11 percent of our roads and as many as 30 percent of our bridges are considered deficient.

That likely doesn’t even include roads that don’t exist but that will be necessary as our state continues to add residents faster than most other states.

Residents of Jacksonville and Onslow County know very well what benefits can be gained from an improved network of roads. But there is more work to be done — both here and in many other parts of the state.

No one relishes paying more, but someone has to pay for our transportation network. It is vital to our economic future. Broken and overcrowded roads and bridges cause delays in delivering products, increase maintenance cost and reduce fuel efficiency and discourage businesses from locating in a particular area.

Common sense would suggest that more than one remedy may be needed to fatten federal and state highway funds and to ensure that our transportation network remains one of our strongest economic drivers.

A version of this editorial first appeared in the Wilmington Star-News, a Halifax Media Group newspaper.